The Longest Five Minutes has one of the most interesting concepts we’ve seen from an RPG in some time. Starting immediately at the final boss battle, the game’s almost cringefully named protagonist ‘Flash Back’ has no memory of why he is suddenly fighting the Demon King, or even who any of his friends and allies are. During this battle Flash Back has lots of - well, flash backs - which play out as small chapters leading you up to this final moment.

Essentially, this boss battle is made up entirely of dialogue; there's a timer in the corner indicating how long the fight has been going on in the present, and you’ll occasionally make key decisions that affect how your memories will play back to you. Certain moments in the battle or specific words that are said will trigger one of these memories, sending you back in time to play through a chapter of RPG action. You’ll be going back and forth from the present to past, learning all about how and why your heroes are in this fight to the death.

The RPG side of the game is actually very light. Each chapter has you playing through random parts of the story, not necessarily in the order in which they happened, and this creates a strange situation where you don’t really need to focus on the usual aspects of games of the genre. There is very little need to spend too much attention on levelling up your party or collecting every last item as you’ll soon be playing an entirely new chapter where your characters might be much more advanced, or weaker, than they are currently.

Instead, each chapter is all about ticking off objectives – usually one that is essential, and two that are optional, to progress the story. Objectives usually task you with the sort of things you might expect such as fulfilling side quests for NPCs, travelling to new destinations via the world map, and combat. Most chapters will lead up to a dungeon that plays out over several floors; you’ll need to make your way to the end, taking on enemies that spawn and fight in a very similar way to games in the Pokémon series, until you reach, and essentially defeat, the dungeon’s boss.

Just like before, the combat within these dungeons (which can also sometimes take place when travelling between key locations) is a very watered down affair when compared to your usual RPG. You play with a typical party of four that each have their own specialist areas such as physical combat, magical combat, and healing, but for the first half of the game you’ll get by without using the majority of these skills at all. You’ll likely be able to clear most battles by simply using each member’s most standard attack, and there is a mechanic available that lets you heal your entire party whenever you like outside of battle for a very small mana cost.

Things do start to get a little tougher towards the end, but if you experiment with your party’s different abilities, you’ll likely be absolutely fine. This easier approach might sound slightly disappointing on paper but it actually suits the style of the game really well; this isn’t your typical, hardcore, life-consuming RPG, but instead is perhaps best appreciated when played in short bursts and looked at as a story-telling adventure with some easily accessible RPG-style gameplay at its centre.

There are actually only a couple of places in which the game falls a little short. Firstly, the narrative can sometimes take strange and unnecessary directions; the more you engage in conversation with the locals, the more you’ll get from the game (and add on to the already 10+ hour campaign), but having an entire chapter that revolves around men ‘peeping’ on women in baths seems completely out of place.

Secondly, the lack of challenge from the game’s combat system effectively makes your in-game currency, and the weapon shops, resting inns, and supply stores, almost entirely useless. We never once bought any additional equipment for battle during our entire run-through – you’d only end up losing your items when you get sent off to the next chapter anyway.

Back to more positive aspects of the game, though, it is also worth mentioning the inclusion of the three optional mini-games. Often used to fill an objective task in various chapters, these mini-games offer a very welcome break from the dramatic storyline and are actually great fun in their own right. A particular highlight was Haunted Run, a simple auto-runner that has you jumping over ghosts and collecting coins. These games offer more of a challenge than the main quest and you are free to play them for as long as you like while in a relevant chapter.

All in all, this is a game that puts a heavy focus on its storytelling and, if you allow yourself to completely dive in to this and fully explore the world around you, you’ll likely enjoy the adventure. There are plot twists with multiple potential story arcs, a lovable cast of characters (apart from possibly Regent who we could happily fire from a cannon), and the whole aesthetic of the game is to die for. The visuals suit the vibe perfectly with artwork that will drench you in nostalgic wonder, and there are two or three musical themes playing throughout that are so beautiful we almost ended up sharing poetic love songs around the office.

Conclusion

The Longest Five Minutes uses a truly gripping concept, throwing the classic RPG formula on its head by having you put the pieces of an already existing story together as you go. While the combat and general gameplay are almost too easy-going, the story, characters, and overall aesthetic had us always wanting more, never wanting to put the game down. The asking price is perhaps a little steep for the amount of content available, and the strange take on a usually well-understood genre may throw some players off, but there is an indescribable charm that is worth exploring here.

Ryan’s that annoying kind of guy in multiplayer games - you know the one, the kind of person that throws a temper tantrum if he can’t be Yoshi in Mario Kart or gets stuck with the controller with the dodgy button. Yeah, that kind.

I kinda of like the light hearted approach mentioned in the review here. Since the game isn't too difficult, I can focus more on the story than anything else. 10+ hours for the campaign is also pretty surprising considering the game's title. $40 is a little bit much I think, perhaps $30 or $25 would have been a better access point for this style of game.

Awesome, keeping my preorder for physical. I was a bit hesitant and concerned about the game overall, it was hard to tell if it was really quality or just an awful grindy retro RPG. Glad to hear it's even better than I thought it would be!

I can't say I like the idea of losing my gear and levels when going to the next chapter, it makes sense for the gameplay but I prefer to keep my progression in rpgs. I suppose that isn't what this game is all about though.

I don't get the dislike or dismissal of pixel art. Pixel art takes longer to create than most polygonal graphics and it's an art with few artisans left.

I'm all in on this game! Games have lost focus and gotten too long. I usually tire of a game well before seeing the ending credits. Once RPGs started boasting playtimes over 40 hours, they started losing me. A nice, tight 15-hour adventure seems about right. $40 seems reasonable to me but I'm getting the 20% prime discount and, at $32, this game seems like a good deal.

My only worry is that NintendoLife gave Lost Spear an 8/10 too, and that got reallyyy mediocre reviews elsewhere, so I'm a bit more cautious with their reviews for the time being for games that would be a risk with my wallet. That said, this does look very intriguing

This caught my attention immediately in December last year when Nintendo showed a trailer on their YouTube channel.I really liked the idea too but that price is putting me off massively for what it is, so I guess il be waiting for a sale for this one.

Got my copy last Friday (in advance). Completed it 100% Sunday. It's a great game, it's just WAY TOO SHORT for the price it is right now. The problem with this is that there's zero post-game, once you have reached the finale (which will happen fast), chances are, you have already done everything optional along the way, and you'll be 100% done with the game too. The concept is great, changing everything along the way the 5 minutes with your choice. But they didnt go as far as they could with the concept, and your choices will no change ANYTHING in in the ending. Missed opportunity. A 7/10. Fun, but too short, with its main concept not used as deeply as they could.